Silicon photonic integrated circuits are of great interest because they provide ultra-fast data transfer while also being capable of being fabricated utilizing existing semiconductor fabrication techniques. Silicon photonic integrated circuits typically comprise one or more lasers, modulators, and photodetectors. Integrated optical waveguides provide communications pathways with off-chip optical elements such as optical fibers and other photonic devices. Presently, emerging silicon photonic integrated circuits employ single mode silicon-based optical waveguides with dimensions on the order of 0.2×0.5 micrometers. Because of their small dimensions, achieving efficient coupling between these waveguides and off-chip optical elements remains challenging. Such coupling typically requires very precise alignment to achieve efficient optical intercommunications.